Reference

Riches of the Rylands explores and celebrates the outstanding Special Collections of The University of Manchester Library.

These collections of rare books, manuscripts, archives, maps and visual materials are extraordinarily rich and diverse. They span 5,000 years and six continents, and include almost every format ever used for written communication. Many derive from the superlative collections purchased by Enriqueta Rylands for the magnificent library she founded as a memorial to her husband John.

The book features over 150 key items from across the collections. Thirteen thematic chapters contain short essays on individual items by over sixty contributors – curators and experts in particular fields. Every item is beautifully illustrated in full colour and an extended introduction charts the history and context of the collections.

Riches of the Rylands will appeal to a broad readership – lovers of books and libraries, and anyone interested in literature, art, history, the history of ideas and collecting.

From the author of The Family Tree Detective, this guide provides the amateur genealogist or family historian with the skills to research the distribution and history of a surname. Colin Rogers uses a sample of 100 names, many of them common, to follow the migration of people through the centuries. Each of the 100 names is mapped since the Doomsday book in 1086. For those whose name is not among the sample, the book shows how to find out where namesakes live now, how they moved around the country through time, and how the name originated from a placename, a nickname or an occupation. Colin Rogers finishes this work by showing how the distribution of surnames can be studied irrespective of the size of the surrounding population, and reaches some interesting conclusions about which names are more reliable guides to migration since the 14th century.

This is a practical, user-friendly guide to researching your family history in Scotland. Its aim is to provide sign-posts to the past and to solve problems faced by those seeking to discover their ancestors and explore their lives. It shows how to make the most of research resources and catalogues of collections held in archives and libraries, both online and on paper. Emphasis is laid on locating, selecting, evaluating and using sources, as well as finding out what is locally available and what is kept in Scottish central archives. Guidance is given on how to keep records and make a research plan. Other sections look at topics such as birth, marriage and death – how to use the core sources of statutory registers, census returns and parish registers, as well as how important information can also be found in other records relating to these ‘facts of life’. A section on profiling the ancestors shows how further research can inform the reader about how they can find out more about their forebears, or ‘how to put flesh on the ancestral bones’. A final section offers help in the often daunting task of understanding Scottish legal documents

The book is designed to help those who are starting out on the ancestral trail and also to point more experienced researchers, including students on genealogical courses, in new directions.

This is a practical, user-friendly guide to researching your family history in Scotland. Its aim is to provide sign-posts to the past and to solve problems faced by those seeking to discover their ancestors and explore their lives. It shows how to make the most of research resources and catalogues of collections held in archives and libraries, both online and on paper. Emphasis is laid on locating, selecting, evaluating and using sources, as well as finding out what is locally available and what is kept in Scottish central archives. Guidance is given on how to keep records and make a research plan. Other sections look at topics such as birth, marriage and death – how to use the core sources of statutory registers, census returns and parish registers, as well as how important information can also be found in other records relating to these ‘facts of life’. A section on profiling the ancestors shows how further research can inform the reader about how they can find out more about their forebears, or ‘how to put flesh on the ancestral bones’. A final section offers help in the often daunting task of understanding Scottish legal documents

The book is designed to help those who are starting out on the ancestral trail and also to point more experienced researchers, including students on genealogical courses, in new directions.